Your First Autocross

There’s an almost zero chance you can hurt your car on an autocross. Unless you forgot to tighten the lug nuts or add oil after the last time you drained it, an autocross is pretty easy on a car—easier than making a full-throttle blast down the quarter-mile, and there’s far less chance of going on your roof like you can on a road course.

2/11The local SCCA chapter, led by Brian Melani, set up and ran the autocross at the Nashville stop during the ’11 HOT ROD Power Tour®. It was sponsored by Royal Purple as part of the company’s Performance Experience. This Dart could benefit from a bigger sway bar—or it may not have a factory sway bar at all.

With that out of the way, there’s no reason to sit on the sidelines of an autocross and watch others do it without lining up for your own shot at killing little orange cones. It’s easy, cheap, and very quickly gets addictive, and unless you’re a total moron, you won’t look like an idiot in the process. This story will give you the basics of what and how, as well as some tips from the pros to make sure your first autocross is not your last.

An autocross is a mini road course set up in a parking lot, with the track laid out in orange pylons and timing lights at the start and end of the course to tell you how fast you went through it. There’s only one car at a time on the course, so you’re racing the clock, not another car wheel to wheel. Autocrossing has gone mainstream for muscle cars and trucks with the advent of the Street Challenge held at many Goodguys shows and the slew of Pro Touring events that have sprung up. You might also find regular events near you hosted by the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) or by local coneheads (they hate when you call them that, but we think it’s funny).

3/11You can gauge what tire pressure your car wants by its performance and also by looking at the edge of the tires to see how much they’re rolling over. The sidewalls are not the sticky part of the tire.

Most autocross layouts can be driven in one gear, lessening the distractions from anything other than the pedals and steering wheel. Any vehicle can do it. Is your only car Mom’s minivan? Go ahead and race it—we won’t tell her. Most courses are laid out to avoid light poles and curbs, so the only harm you can do is get an orange smudge on your paint where a cone gave its life. And that’ll buff out.

There is a competitive aspect to an autocross, with guys racing each other (especially in the SCCA events, where they run for points and season championships), but there’s no money for the fastest car, seldom even a trophy, and the smart racers run against the clock and themselves, trying to go faster and/or modifying their cars to get through the course quicker than the last time.

At the Royal Purple Performance Experience, we spoke with Pro Touring hero Brian Finch, who wins damn near every autocross he enters. He says, “All in all it’s a great group of guys having fun with their cars. Don’t worry about where you are; worry about improving your time. As long as you come out and every time out get a little faster, then you’re the only one you’re in competition with, really. If you keep that mentality, and keep working at it, eventually you’ll be up there with the top guys, because you’re going to be comfortable and you’re going to be relaxed.”

4/11The end of the course is usually flagged by a taller cone, such as the white one here. This guy is close to taking out the lights with his left side. Don’t do that.

Car Setup

Make sure all the lug nuts are tight. If you have a torque wrench, use it to check them.

Some people recommend adding pressure to the tires, but Finch disagrees. “It’s the opposite of what most SCCA racers will tell you. They say to pump them up to 35 or 40 pounds to keep them from rolling over and tearing them up. But if you want them to stick, you gotta get ’em down to 27, 28 pounds. Then they’ll really start gripping.” As a guideline, tires with less pressure (to a reasonable level) have more traction, and tires with more pressure have less traction; therefore, pressure tuning can be used to help balance the car.

Tires are the single biggest component to driving on an autocross. If you want to get serious about it, get tires with a 100 or lower treadwear rating made specifically for the purpose. Finch says, “Get as much tire as you can and get it as sticky as you can.

“Shifting on an autocross will just kill you. If you find that your gear ratio is such that you have to shift on medium and longer courses, then you want to look at changing the ratio or put a different transmission in. You need to focus on driving, not shifting. Focus on what your hands are doing, what the car is doing, without having to do too much more than just turn it.”

5/11You’ve probably seen Brian Finch’s Camaro from coverage of the Optima Invitational and Holley LS Fest. It used to be yellow.

9/11Matt Makaryk got a two-week leave from his Army stint in Kirkuk, Iraq, and spent it on Power Tour® with “The Ghost,” his ’67 Chevelle. It has a fuel-injected 327, a TH700-R4 automatic, and a bone-stock suspension. This was his first time on an autocross, and you could see the grin from a mile away. He logged 2,781 miles on the trip.

Tips

Don’t try to set the course on fire the first few laps. Go easy at first and improve gradually. You’ll often find that one of your first few runs is your fastest of the day.

You will likely hit some cones, but try not to, as one second is typically added to your time for each cone you knock down (or move out of its painted box on the ground). And remember that an autocross is usually staffed by volunteers and other racers who have to run out and set the cones back up for the next guy, shutting the course down in the meantime.

Be cool. Don’t pretend you’re Michael Schumacher and let everyone know it. Again, the workers are volunteers, so don’t get in their faces with attitude.

Empty the trunk of tools, a spare tire, or anything else that can roll around and put a nice divot in the quarter-panel. Ask us how we know.

Take a helmet, just in case. Many autocross events (especially the slower, tighter courses) don’t require a brain bucket, but some do.

At the start of any autocross event, you’ll have an opportunity to walk the track on foot. Do it. It’ll give you a good idea how the course is laid out, and you can strategize the quickest way around it.

Drive smoothly. An old racing adage is “slow is fast,” meaning smooth motions on the wheel and pedals are best to avoid sudden actions that can upset the car.

Just as in road racing, or even driving down the freeway, look ahead to where you want to go. As you approach a corner, look at the apex. As soon as the car is headed there, look at the exit. Your hands will follow your eyes.

Most production cars are set up to understeer, meaning when you corner too quickly, the front tires will push in a straight line rather than steer where they are pointed. If you feel this happening, you are going too fast or have too much steering input for your setup. Go easy.

Oversteer occurs when the rear tires lose traction and start to slide the car sideways. Do this on an autocross, and you’re going to look like a jerk, in most cases.

You don’t want to be “that guy,” which you will be if you mow over the timing equipment at the end of the course. Many people see the end, which is often positioned after a slower corner, and try to make up time. It’s easy to get squirrelly and go across the line sideways, but avoid the temptation. Besides, wheelspin just slows you down.